Because of goodwill, human resources, derivative financial instruments and other projects. Either it does not meet the definition and confirmation goal of traditional accounting elements, or it does not have physical form or non-monetary, and it has always been regarded as an off-balance sheet item and has not been paid attention to. In fact, on the one hand, the intensification of industry competition and the release of business risks make investors, creditors and related interest groups urgently demand the disclosure of relevant information; On the other hand, in order to confirm and measure the above matters in the reporting system, it is necessary to reform the current traditional accounting model. For example, derivative financial instruments have brought great impact to traditional accounting theory: accrual basis can not reasonably calculate the financial assets of enterprises; Historical cost does not conform to the active price characteristics of derivative financial instruments; In particular, because the definitions of assets and liabilities are based on past transactions and events, there will inevitably be inflows and outflows of economic benefits or resources in the future, and derivative financial instruments obviously cannot fully meet the definition and recognition criteria of accounting elements. Therefore, in order to confirm derivative financial instruments in the table, it is necessary to modify the definitions of assets and liabilities. After a long period of exploration, FASB put forward the proposition that the rights and obligations represented by derivative financial instruments conform to the definitions of assets and liabilities in FAS 133 Accounting Treatment of Derivatives and Arbitrage Activities. However, the definitions of assets and liabilities have not been revised, abandoning the feature that assets and liabilities must be formed by past events, but highlighting the feature of gaining and sacrificing future economic benefits and avoiding mentioning the other two features. This paves the way for the recognition and measurement of derivative financial instruments to some extent. The author thinks that it is feasible to regard the recognition of derivative financial instruments as a process according to the recognition standard of financial instruments, including initial recognition, subsequent measurement and termination recognition, and to measure all financial assets at fair value by breaking through the historical cost principle.
Details of the nature and quantity of items disclosed in financial reports, such as goodwill, human resources and derivative financial instruments, should conform to the principle of full disclosure, that is, all information necessary for the fair expression of enterprise economic matters should be provided completely and easily understood by users. In order to improve the usefulness of financial statements, the disclosure of accounting information of derivative financial instruments should at least include the following four aspects: (1) the nature, conditions and accounting policies of derivative financial instruments; (2) Interest rate risk; (3) Credit risk, that is, the maximum amount that an enterprise may lose if one party defaults; (4) Fair value.
China's accounting system is still in the stage of gradual improvement and development, and there is a lack of theoretical basis and practical exploration for items such as goodwill, human resources and derivative financial instruments. In order to solve the urgent needs of information users, we can first solve the problem of information disclosure, temporarily bypass the problems of confirmation and measurement, and then study it when the time is ripe. Before this problem is solved, especially at present, we should follow the principle of full disclosure and improve the integrity of accounting information disclosure.
2. Encourage listed companies to disclose predictive information in their financial reports
It is of great practical significance for listed companies to publicly disclose predictive financial information. From the microscopic point of view, it is helpful for information users to make economic decisions, objectively evaluate the performance of enterprise managers' entrusted responsibilities, and help enterprises reduce financing costs and establish a good image; From a macro perspective, it helps to reduce transaction costs, optimize the allocation of social resources and promote the healthy development of the securities market. However, at present, in China, according to the Criteria for Contents and Formats of Information Disclosure of Public Offerings issued by China Securities Regulatory Commission 1997, companies must disclose predictive information such as total after-tax profits, earnings per share and price-earnings ratio in the prospectus and listing announcement. Whether to disclose predictive information in the annual report after listing depends on voluntariness. In the case that listed companies are worried about the increase of their operating costs and the disclosure of trade secrets, the predictive information disclosure is obviously insufficient. This affects the user's judgment of future risks and benefits, and increases the use cost. In addition, our supervision of predictive financial information is not mature enough: (1) The requirements of relevant departments for enterprises to disclose predictive financial information are too low. The scope of compulsory disclosure is too narrow, only when listed companies go public; There is too little to disclose, only profit forecast information is needed, and other important predictive financial information is not needed; The disclosure channels of profit forecast are mainly limited to prospectus and listing announcement; (2) There is no perfect external supervision mechanism of predictive financial information, which has weak constraints on enterprises; (3) The responsibility is unclear, and the profit forecast insurance system has not been established. When there is a major deviation in the profit forecast, misleading investors and causing heavy losses, due to unclear responsibilities, we don't know whether to pursue the responsibility of the enterprise management authorities or the CPA, which can only be generally attributed to the impact of the macro environment and shirking responsibility.
An important problem in the disclosure of predictive information in financial reports of listed companies is that the quality of predictive information is difficult to guarantee, which leads to legal liability. Predictive information is information that focuses on the future and is based on a series of assumptions. It has great uncertainty, and may lead to legal proceedings of listed companies and accountants because of the difference between the predicted results and the actual results. Therefore, a predictive information quality assurance mechanism should be established, and the following measures can be considered: (1) Strengthen the legal awareness of managers of listed companies and clarify the legal responsibility for providing false accounting information; (two) there is a significant difference between the forecast information and the actual situation, and the listed company is required to explain it, so as to urge the listed company to comprehensively consider various factors and improve the accuracy of the forecast; (3) Relevant laws and regulations stipulate that the disclosure of predictive information must be audited by certified public accountants; (4) stipulate the exemption conditions of certified public accountants. ?
3. Adopt large-scale on-demand reporting mode.
Information users have different information needs, mainly because: (1) users have different goals and directions; (2) The appraised assets are different; (3) The environment of the reporting company is different; (4) Users have different information preferences. Information has the characteristics of continuous aggregation and decomposition, easy expression, modularization and combination. These characteristics enable information providers to meet different information needs at lower cost. The general report mode is regarded as a large-scale production mode, and the large-scale on-demand report mode is indeed a large-scale on-demand production mode, that is, the company uses technology and management means to realize the diversification of products and meet the diversified needs of customers through flexibility and quick response. It assumes that demand is changeable and difficult to be confirmed by producers in advance, and its goal is to obtain comprehensive benefits, that is, the combination of scale benefits and scope benefits. Unlike mass production, it is customer-centric. Due to the huge difference between material products and data information, some people worry that large-scale on-demand production is not suitable for financial reporting. In fact, information is more suitable for large-scale on-demand production than physical objects. This is because data and information are immortal, enjoyable, easy to copy, constantly aggregated and decomposed, easy to express, modular and combined. These characteristics enable information providers to meet different information needs at lower cost.
The adoption of large-scale on-demand reporting mode does not mean that the general reporting mode is completely denied. The diversification of users' information needs does not exclude the information needs of some users. In addition, the demand for some financial information is stable at least in the short term. Therefore, through communication with users, the company may obtain some information needs of users in advance. Therefore, the general financial reporting model is useful to users and has the advantages of comparability and economy.
4. Strengthen the supervision of accounting information disclosure
In order to ensure that accounting information disclosure meets the quality requirements of relevance and reliability, the supervision of accounting information disclosure should be strengthened: (1) The professional judgment ability of accounting personnel is an important condition to ensure the quality of information disclosure, so the education, training and supervision of accounting personnel should be strengthened to reduce the information distortion caused by fraud; (2) Strengthen the construction of accounting laws and regulations, eliminate institutional distortion from the source, and establish a unified and standardized supervision system for accounting information disclosure; (3) Enterprises should establish a safety system that meets the requirements of modern enterprise system to ensure the reliability of accounting information. From the legal representative, internal auditors to every accountant, they should shoulder the responsibility of ensuring the reliability of accounting information.